Wagon Wheel Homestead

Verse of the day: 1 Timothy 2:5-6

Last week I finally got my seeds started for this year’s garden. I live in zone 6B, those in a warmer growing zone have already started their seeds last month or so. Once again, I am always late, but that is okay.

This year is the most I have started indoors in many years. I want to manage to do some canning this year hopefully! I have started so many different kinds of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and melons. I will be growing other things, but those will be direct sowed outside. I will be direct sowing amaranth, okra, beans, sunflowers, and many other things after our finally frost of the year.

This time of year, I am like a kid in a candy store. I want to get everything started and watch it grow quickly. I can be very impatient waiting for seeds to germinate. A positive note, I have germination finally! Not everything has come up yet, but it is starting to! I am using a new seed starting mix this growing season. It is the Burpee Natural & Organic Seed Starting Mix.

I do not use any synthetic chemicals in the garden and grow everything organically. It is survival of the fittest every year in my garden. Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides disrupt the natural ecosystem within the garden! The plants absorb what is given to them. I want nothing synthetic in the food I grow.

While tending to my seedlings, I had a thought.

Every year I am reminded of the lessons the garden teaches. Patience is key! Nothing with the garden happens overnight. You must address the issues at hand, or you will lose the plants. We should approach life in the same manner. The seedlings that come up are fragile and need care and nutrients just like we are as newborns. As the plants grow bigger throughout their short lives, they grow stronger as well. When we live our lives and grow older, we grow stronger and wiser with each event we go through.

We need to take our time to plant more if we want to have more food in the garden. We must have a plan on where to put everything once it’s time to transplant them outside. God has put it on my heart to grow more this year, so I am going to do that!

When gardening, I find my happy place. I am so excited to get everything outside. I can’t wait to watch it grow. One big goal too for me this year is to do some canning with the produce I will be harvesting. I haven’t canned in 2-ish years. Two years ago, I became rather lazy with the garden. I also faced a lot of light issues. As a result, the harvest was not as abundant. Last year, I took a step back from everything. Then, I accidentally killed half of my seedlings. It was too late in the season by then to start more things from seed. They would not be done before the first frost.

I want to really focus on the garden this year. I want to do it more than I ever have before. I aim to create personal milestones within the space I have to garden. I want everyone to manage to do that this year too!

I believe considering the state of the world at the moment, everyone should start some type of garden. Grow what you can with the space you have been given. I get my seeds from many different companies, but in all honesty, you can get seeds from the Dollar Tree. Seeds do not have to be expensive, especially if you are not focused so much on special varieties. It certainly is not a need in life, only a want.

Seedlings are life of the future if you take care of them. You are bringing them to life and caring for them, and they will provide food if things are done correctly. It is almost like how our relationship is with God. God made us and scripture tells us He knew us before we were in our mother’s womb. If we allow God into our lives, He will provide for us! We are His seedlings, let him care for us the way we care for our gardens!

I am excited to share my journey of this year’s gardening season!

God bless!